More on GRiDs

Hi, I'm using my Compass again. :) I have the GRiD 1520 (I think that's the model) disassembled on the kitchen table beside me. It does, I repeat, it *does* have a hard drive in it. Either it is very, very quiet, or it wasn't spinning up before. Could be why it didn't pass the "test". I've located the battery, too. Looks to be non-rechargable, and it's soldered to the motherboard. Looks like a pink capacitor. TL-5101. Anyone know the specs on this? The hard drive is from JVC. I didn't even know that JVC made hard drives. "Manufactured by Victor Company of Japan, Limited". It's labeled "20 MEG HD" on the outside of the metal case. It's a model JD3824G00-2. There is one error listed, on cylinder 155, head 0, sector 4. The hard drive is a very slim 3.5" unit, with a 26-pin connector going into it. Those 26 pins _include_ the power. What kind of drive is this? The floppy drive definitely works. I plugged it into my Amiga 1200 and viewed some JPEGs from it. The little modem board (?) is from USRobotics. The AC adapter actually slides out of the case. It has battery terminals on its inside end. Obviously the battery pack must fit into the same space when the machine is on the move. There's some other kind of connector on the end of the AC adapter, too, but I don't know what that's for. Also, why is there an external 16VDC connector if the battery slides into the case? The CPU is a HARRIS (says INTEL lower down) CG80C286-10. There are four monstrous square FARADAY chips near the CPU, 21 pins to a side. FE3000A/M79V004, FE3030/M73HB002, FE3010/M92H801, FE3020/M73HB001. There's a 40-pin ceramic DIP labeled "256K RAM". Could be video RAM, I suppose, but it's far away from the video board and plasma display connecions. There's a socket next to it, of the same physical size. There are four banks of RAM on little boards, kind of like SIMMs but not. The board edges seem to be soldered to the motherboard. There are four empty spaces for more of these things. 30 pins each. Or is that what 30-pin SIMMs are supposed to look like? :) Some chips have GRiD labels. The chip which I presume to be the main video chip is a square YAMAHA beast, 21 pins per side, with labels "7822851/V6366B-J/6102B-J". Possibly most importantly, there are modifications inside. On the motherboard, at position U83, there is a piggybacked 20-pin chip, with some cut pins and wire leading to the chip below it (only one) and to U72 and U73. There's another piggybacked 14-pin chip at U26, and a couple of other patches here and there. I thought a machine beaing the GRiD name would be beyond these kinds of patches. :) Anyway, I ended up doing the full disassembly by accident. I was trying to figure out how to open the case, and the only obvious screws were the ones under the carrying handle. I unscrewed two of those and "jingle jingle jingle" some metal pieces fell from their moorings and started drifting around inside. Oh joy. Turns out they were under the battery compartment. Turns out I needed to disassemble EVERYTHING to get under there and put the pieces back in place. Turns out they were the springs that hold the handle in one of two positions. Now I hope I can get the darn thing together again. I didn't take notes, and there are tons of screws all over the place. -- Doug Spence ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/